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S pade knew that time was of the essence when it came to finding Cynthia. His training had taught him that. He had worked many cases where hostages were involved, and there were times when he and his team were too late to save the person. It was a fact that he had to live with, and knowing that to be the case, he wanted to find Cynthia as soon as possible. But that would involve his Captain, Razor, signing off on his request to be involved in the search. He knew Razor well enough to know that he would tell him that he was worried that he was too close to the situation. He’d be right too; couldn’t get any closer to Cynthia’s kidnapping—she was the woman he loved. Telling her that had scared the hell out of him, and he foolishly kept that secret to himself. But now, all he could think about was finding Cynthia and telling her how much he loved her. Hell, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and there was no way that he’d let a crazy woman take that dream away from him.

Getting Mace and the Blaine brothers involved to help him find Cynthia might not have been his best idea. He asked his club’s Prez to keep things quiet, but he didn’t take orders apparently. He called in the rest of the guys for a meeting, including Ink and Razor, and when they both volunteered, he knew that things were getting out of hand. The good news was, with Razor being in on the case, he approved ’s involvement. Razor was his club brother, but out in the world, he was ’s boss, and he needed to keep that in mind.

“You didn’t have to go behind my back about finding Cynthia,” Razor insisted. His old partner could be a bit dramatic sometimes, but that was one of the things liked about the guy. Razor liked to say that he was passionate, not dramatic, but even he had to admit that wasn’t always true.

“I wasn’t going behind your back,” insisted. “You were my next stop. I was going to ask your permission to go on this little mission before actually doing it.”

“And if I would have said no?” Razor asked. “Would you have still gone?” There would be no lying to Razor. The guy knew him better than most of the guys in the club. They were partners for many years, going undercover together and enduring some of the worst circumstances. owed him the truth.

“Yeah, I would have still gone,” he admitted.

“Well, I can understand that,” Razor said, surprising him. “Because if I had a woman as great as Cynthia, I would have disregarded my boss telling me that I couldn’t go find her.”

“Thanks for that, man,” said, pulling Razor in for a quick side hug. “So, we’re doing this then?” he asked.

“Yep, but where do we even start?” Razor asked. held up his cell as it was ringing. He knew exactly where to begin looking for Cynthia.

“I’m guessing we start with the woman who roofied her the first time. It’s just a hunch since she’s calling me now,” said.

“Shit,” Razor grumbled, “put the call on speaker.” did as he was told and answered the call.

“Well, hi there, ,” she said into the other end of the call. Her voice grated on his last nerve—like fingernails on a chalk board.

“It’s Melissa, right?” he asked, pretending not to already know exactly who he was talking to.

“Yep, and I have a bit of news that you might be interested in knowing,” she insisted. He couldn’t possibly be interested in any news that Melissa had, besides where she was keeping Cynthia.

“Oh, well now I’m curious,” he lied. He needed to keep her on the phone because Razor had called the office and told them to put a trace on the call that had just come through ’s cellphone. They’d need to keep her talking for just a few more minutes, and then they’d know exactly where she was. He just hoped that Melissa was a novice at kidnapping people and wouldn’t know that little bit of information.

“I thought that you might be,” she said. She seemed smug and he was sure that she had no right to. “Your new girlfriend has been sleeping with my husband. They used to have a thing, and when Eric broke up with her to be with me, she went crazy. I’m betting that she was plotting this the whole time. She wants Eric back and she can’t have him.” Slade knew that Cynthia would never get back together with her ex. She hated the guy and said that she was happy that he was out of her life. But like a bad penny, the guy kept turning up.

“Is that why you roofied Cynthia at Road Reapers?” asked.

“I was actually trying to get her a little tipsy so that I could convince her to get out of that dive bar. I wanted to talk to her, face to face about what she was doing to my little family. Eric and I were happy. We are having a baby, and Cynthia took that all away from us.” Melissa actually believed that Cynthia was the bad guy in the situation. From what Cynthia told him; Melissa was the one who broke up her and Eric.

“So, you drugged her and waited for your chance to sneak her out of the bar?” he asked.

“Yep, and it would have worked too, except the idiot biker who gave her the drink, gave her two at a time. She sucked down double the amount that she should have, and that’s on him. And then, you got involved and had to play the hero, taking her out of there and running her to the hospital.”

“I see, so it’s my and my friend’s fault for what you did to Cynthia?” he asked.

“Don’t be an ass,” she spat. “I’m trying to help you out here.” She wasn’t but upsetting her wouldn’t get him the information that he needed.

Razor snapped his fingers at him and looked at him from across the room. He gave a thumbs up and he knew that they finally had her. “I hate to tell you this, Melissa, but I don’t really need your help.” Her gasp was all he heard on the other end, right before she ended the call.

“We’ve got her location,” Razor said triumphantly. “Let’s move.” He started for the door with about a half dozen guys and couldn’t help his smile. He knew that when the going got tough, his brothers would always have his back—no matter what.

They pulled up to a house that looked like it was abandoned. Half of the windows were covered with plywood and the roof looked about ready to cave in. “She’s in there?” asked Razor.

“Yeah, I bet we’re thinking the same thing,” he said. “We need to get Cynthia out of there before that whole house collapses.”

“How are we going to play this?” Mace asked from the front seat. They had taken two trucks, both filled with men, and was grateful for all the help. The more guys they had, the easier this might be. But there were always the unknown factors, and they scared the hell out of him. All he wanted was Cynthia back in one piece. He honestly didn’t give a shit about what happened to Melissa.

“I say that those guys take the back of the house,” Razor said. knew that his boss would want to be in charge of the operation, and he was fine with that. He needed someone with a clear head leading the charge.

“We can take the front,” Razor continued. “ and I will go in first, and the rest of you follow. Remember, if this thing goes south, you guys need to get out of there fast. and I are trained to handle this type of thing.” was trained to handle kidnappings, but never involving the woman he loved.

“Got it,” Mace agreed. He told the rest of the guys what to do, leaving Razor and alone.

“You sure that you’re good?” Razor asked him.

“No, but I will be just as soon as I get Cynthia back,” he admitted.

“Then, let’s go do that,” Razor breathed. Mace rejoined them with two of the Blaine brothers and they all started into the house. It was dark and wondered if the house had electricity or running water. The thought of Cynthia being kept in such a place pissed him completely off.

He could hear Cynthia calmly trying to coax Melissa into letting her go. She told her that no one had to know what happened and that she’d never press charges. That was complete bullshit. There was no way that would let that woman get away with what she had done to Cynthia.

Razor turned back to and gave him the motion to hold. He didn’t want to fucking wait another second to get to Cynthia, but when Razor motioned to him that Melissa had a gun, he stopped dead in his tracks. If Melissa did have a gun, this whole mission could turn into a complete cluster fuck. There was no way that he’d let Cynthia get hurt though—even if he had to take the bullet for her.